A renewable energy company launched its project to build a
19.7-megawatt run-of-river hydropower system by signing a memorandum of
agreement with the local governments of Isabela Province and Echague
town on Wednesday.
The planned hydropower system will be put up in San Miguel village in Echague town along the Ilaguen River.
Rio
Norte Hydro Corporation (RNHC) officers led by Executive Vice President
Manolo Candelaria, Echague Mayor Francis Faustino Dy, Isabela Governor
Faustino Dy III, and San Miguel Barangay Captain Efren Santiago signed
the memorandum for the project.
“This hydro project is a welcome
development in our municipality as it is expected to bring down the cost
of electricity for my constituents as well as generate a host of
beneficial programs,” Dy said.
Clarence Jandoc, RNHC
Vice-President for Legal and Government Affairs, said the run-of-river
power generation is considered one of the most environment-friendly
energy methods available as it harnesses the natural flow of water to
generate electricity.
“The project produces nearly no greenhouse emissions,” Jandoc added.
The
project is expected to supply 85 million kilowatts of energy per year
to the cities of Cauayan and Santiago including the municipalities of
Alicia, Angadanan, Cabatuan, Cordon, Echague, Jones, Luna, Ramon, Reina
Mercedes, San Agustin, San Guillermo, San Isidro, and San Mateo.
Jandoc
said the project does not end with the development and construction of
the hydropower project. To help the community, RNHC is also undertaking
the development of an eco-tourism road and several community programs in
the area, he added.
“We will upgrade the existing provincial road
into an ‘all-weather road’ that will extend into a municipal road going
toward the majestic Ilaguen River,” he said.
Jandoc pledged to
launch various social development programs in Echague to bring about
sustainable livelihood and educational opportunities.
Residents of Barangay San Miguel, the community which will host hydropower system, lauded the benefits they will gain.
“On
behalf of the community, I would like to extend my heartfelt
appreciation to Rio Norte for this additional support,” San Miguel
Barangay Captain Efren Santiago said.
“The road project will help
improve our access to basic services like healthcare, market, and
schools. Once it is complete, we will be able to transport our products
to the marketplace faster,” he added.
“We are also looking forward
to more livelihood and employment opportunities for the barangays. It’s
wonderful that Rio Norte is now our neighbor,” he said.
Jandoc said he project is in keeping with the company's commitment to inclusive growth.
“Empowering communities is the key to creating a healthy environment and an inclusive society.” he said.
“We
are thankful for the welcome and steadfast support from the
municipality and the province. We hope that our hydropower project will
serve as a catalyst for economic development in Echague and will
contribute to the entire province’s sustained growth. Wherever we go, we
make sure to deliver this same commitment to help the community,” he
added. (Villamor Visaya Jr.)
Source of news: Philippine News Agency. Photo credit, sky view of Echague, Isabela: YouTube.
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The status of the posh Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa as a drug-cleared
barangay is under review following the recent raid of a house in Ayala
Alabang Village that resulted in the confiscation of P7.2 million worth
of high-grade marijuana.
On Sept. 7, Barangay Ayala Alabang, which includes the exclusive
Ayala Alabang Village, was declared as a drug-cleared barangay after
undergoing thorough assessments for months.
The certification was signed by officials of the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency-National Capital Region, Muntinlupa City government
and the Philippine National Police-Muntinlupa.
But in less than a month, the PDEA Central Luzon conducted an
operation on Sept. 30 on a house on Agoncillo Street in Ayala Alabang
Village and found six kilos of kush or high-grade marijuana. Arrested
were live-in partners Joshua
Ramon Jimenez and Sarah Margarita
Dominguez.
According to PDEA-NCR regional director Joel Plaza, Barangay Ayala
Alabang’s drug-cleared status is under review but it will retain its
drug-cleared status for the time being despite the raid.
Dangerous Drugs Board’s Regulation No. 3 issued in 2017 governing
barangay drug-clearing program states that “in the event that there are
new reports of any illegal drug activities, the status of the concerned
cleared barangay shall not be automatically reverted to drug-affected
barangay.”
Under the regulation, the barangay is given 30 days to take
appropriate action and “failure of the BADAC (Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse
Council) to address the same shall be ground to declare the concerned
barangay as ‘drug-affected’ and shall be subjected to barangay
drug-clearing operations.’
Failure to comply can also be grounds for the
filing of administrative and criminal cases against officials.
The raid is another blow to the efforts of Barangay Ayala Alabang to clear its image.
Barangay Ayala Alabang chairman Ruben Baes told the Manila Bulletin
during the awarding of the drug-cleared certification last month that
the image of the barangay suffered when shabu laboratories were found by
authorities in 2012 and 2016 inside the village.
“All of these are negative to us but again we worked it out with PDEA
and DAPCO [Muntinlupa Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Office]. We
told them we cannot forever be perceived like criminals. At a certain
point in time, you have to clear us,” he said.
Ayala Alabang Village Association (AAVA) president Amador Bacani
earlier said that after the raids in the past years, they became
stricter in enforcing the single-family residential use rule in the
village and the association no longer allows dwellings to be used as
staff houses. (Jonathan Hicap)
Source of news and PDEA photo: Manila Bulletin.
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Christmas will come early for residents of 80 villages in this city.
City
Administrator John Michael Fariñas said Thursday the city government is
set to distribute in the next few weeks at least 80 units of portable
generator sets to each barangay here.
Fariñas said he found a way to make generator sets available in every village.
“During and even after the rage of Typhoon Ompong, I have had messages and calls, left and right, from our kapitans (village chairmen), Sangguniang Kabataan chairmen, and even kabarangayans
from all over the city, requesting if the generator sets of the city
government could be used to charge their cellphones, portable electric
fans, and even battery packs, among others,” he said.
On
Wednesday, boxes of generator sets arrived in his office, purchased
through donations from his friends and law school classmates, Fariñas
said.
He added that the amount used in buying the generator sets
were all from private individuals and not a single centavo came from
government coffers.
“I have never been shy in asking for help, if
need be, especially when I know that it will do good to my fellow
Laoageños,” said the city official, who led the distribution of relief
goods to "Ompong" victims in Barangay Caaoacan. (Leilanie Adriano)
Source of news: Philippine News Agency. Photo credit: John Michael Fariñas
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Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday renewed his call for lawmakers to
expedite the approval of a bill that seeks to provide a lump sum
retirement gratuity pay equivalent to one year honorarium, or P100,000,
as well as a higher Christmas bonus for village or barangay officials.
Gatchalian said the existing amounts provided for under the Local
Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act No. 7160 are no longer
sufficient to provide for the families of barangay officials.
“The provisions in the Local Government Code enumerating the benefits
and privileges for these barangay officials leave much to be desired,”
Gatchalian said in his Senate Bill No. 1867.
“If we are to effectively give to the local government units the
self-sufficiency that the government envisions, we must be able to
provide the conditions conducive to a productive leadership,” Gatchalian
said in his Senate Bill No. 1867.
The senator also cited the crucial role of barangay officials in not
only enforcing laws but also in exercising judicial functions.
“The barangay officials are on-call 24/7 for the welfare of their
constituencies. Their political jurisdiction may be small but their
duties are expansive and call for direct assimilation among members of
the community,” he said.
The bill proposes to fill in the inequities in the present law by
providing for the increase in the barangay officials’ honorarium and
Christmas bonuses and granting an additional benefit of a lump sum
gratuity pay upon their retirement.
“That is the much-needed benefit and privilege to our hard-working barangay officials,” the senator added.
Under the measure, the P1,000 monthly allowance of barangay chairmen
as well as barangay tanods and members of the lupong tagapamayapa (or
those in the pacification committees), shall be increased from P2,000 to
P5,000.
“This is on top of the P2,000 Christmas bonus, an increase of P1,000
from the amount currently provided for in the law,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian also proposed grant scholarships to legitimate dependent children of barangay watchmen (tanod).
Meanwhile, retired barangay officials, who are at least 60 years of
age and has served nine years or three consecutive terms are entitled to
a lump sum gratuity pay equivalent to one year honorarium or P100,000,
as stated under the bill.
The amounts needed for such benefits would be sourced from the
Barangay Retirement Gratuity Fund that would be created following the
enactment of the proposed bill. (Hannah Torregoza)
Source of news and photo of Sen. Gatchalian: Manila Bulletin
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The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) is
soliciting the utmost support and cooperation of barangay officials in
the identification of high risk areas in the city’s 128 barangays so
that concerned government agencies and the local government will be
guided on the appropriate mitigating measures to be implemented to
prevent life and properties from being exposed to danger.
CDRRMC officials claimed that after Typhoon Ompong, potential danger
zones in the different barangays have been exposed, thus, the need for
the immediate implementation of the interventions that will prevent the
occurrence of untoward incidents that will pose a serious threat to life
and properties.
The CDRRMC wants barangay officials to immediately submit a list of
potential high risk areas in their areas of jurisdiction so that
requests for the conduct of an ocular inspection by experts from the
Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-CAR) can be
made to assess and evaluate the status of the said supposed danger
zones.
While it is true that copies of the geohazard map of the city
prepared by the MGB-CAR had been distributed in the city’s barangays for
the information of barangay officials and residents, the CDRRMC pointed
out the need for barangay officials to be updated on the prevailing
situation in their places for them to be guided on future actions to
take to mitigate negative effects of future natural and man-made
calamities to the people and private as well as public properties
situated in their barangays.
The CDRRMC also urged the different Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Councils (BDRRMCs) to be proactive in the implementation
of pre-emptive evacuation among residents living in identified risk
areas even before the onslaught of future natural calamities to ensure
that people will be in safe places before calamity will occur and avoid
any casualty.
The CDRRMC continues to engage barangay officials in the
post-disaster efforts of the local government to make sure that the real
cost of damages to private and public properties is reflected in its
report to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
(NDRRMC) to avail of assistance that may be extended to the city by
concerned government agencies to rehabilitate damaged properties.
According to CDRRMC officers, residents must strictly adhere to the
proposed mitigating measures in their properties to significantly reduce
their exposure to danger in times of natural and man-made calamities
that could strike anytime, thus, the ultimate remedy to whatever
difficult situation is preparedness.
The CDRRMC oversees the implementation of the city’s local disaster
risk reduction and management plan to ensure that residents in the city
are resilient before, during and after the onslaught of natural and
man-made calamities considering that the Cordillera, including Baguio
City, is one of the calamity-stricken areas in the country, thus, the
need for people to be always on their toes to lessen the impact of
calamities to life and property. (Dexter A. See)
Source of news and photo: Herald Express http://baguioheraldexpressonline.com/identification-of-high-risk-areas-in-barangays-sought/
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